crayfish as bottom cleaners?
- Thread starter Michael_G
- Start date
I can honestly say I've tried this long long ago. I started as an i'll informed crayfish owner, and watched the fins on most of my fish get shredded. I clipped one claw first knowing that they grow back, but my fish were still under attack. I'm talking Oscars and large gourami's not little fish. next I clipped the second claw, and then the poor crayfish became lunch within a few minutes after his defenses were removed. The next crayfish I own will be in a crayfish only tank. The only decent cleaner (non fish) I've found with a medium sized cichlid is the larger snails. there is still some risk, but I do have 3 mystery snails in with my Oscar and demsey, and the fish don't seem to even notice them. I feed ramshorn snails to those fish regularly, so I know it's not due to a lack of appetite for escargo.
Dave
Absolutly Not!!!
Most crayfish are nocturnal in habit. And a lot of fish at night when in they're resting or sleeping have a tendency to be on the bottom of the tank. Your crayfish "will" make a meal out of them. I would not recommend crayfish in your tank.
Mike
Most crayfish are nocturnal in habit. And a lot of fish at night when in they're resting or sleeping have a tendency to be on the bottom of the tank. Your crayfish "will" make a meal out of them. I would not recommend crayfish in your tank.
Mike
Ramhorns.........Don't get more then a few, in a few months after that you will be trying to give them away.......I don't think snails are good cleaners at all, I have a large apple snail in a 15g and he don;t do much for the brown algie ont he glass.
IMHO, I would go with a B-Pleco, super workers when it comes to tank cleaning.
IMHO, I would go with a B-Pleco, super workers when it comes to tank cleaning.
Excess snail populations are a symptom of overfeeding, overstocking, and too little maintenance. Snails need food, and their population is a direct response to the availability of food.
http://www.aquasource.org/CMS/modul...ns&file=index&req=viewarticle&artid=58&page=1
http://www.aquasource.org/CMS/modul...ns&file=index&req=viewarticle&artid=58&page=1
shrimp, plecos and cories are good bottom feeders. shrimp and cories eat excess food that falls in the gravel. shrimp also will eat algae. most plecos eat algae but can produce lots of waste.
I DO NOT recommend crayfish at all in with any kind of fish. unless you're planning to feed the crayfish to the fish or vice versa.
If you cut off his claws, the fish will eat him. he's defenseless and the fish sees an easy meal.
If you leave his claws, he will tear up the fishes fins and when the lights are off, the fish becomes a midnight snack for the crayfish.
I had a Florida blue crayfish. I made the mistake of putting him in with my other fish. They were danios and white clouds, pretty fast moving fish. but after i witnessed the crayfish snatch a danio that swam quickly by him and proceed to eat him, i moved the crayfish to a tank by himself with just a few feeder platy and guppy fry.
also when crayfish molt, they are exposed to everything and the tiniest little thing can kill them. my crayfish died after he molted.
I DO NOT recommend crayfish at all in with any kind of fish. unless you're planning to feed the crayfish to the fish or vice versa.
If you cut off his claws, the fish will eat him. he's defenseless and the fish sees an easy meal.
If you leave his claws, he will tear up the fishes fins and when the lights are off, the fish becomes a midnight snack for the crayfish.
I had a Florida blue crayfish. I made the mistake of putting him in with my other fish. They were danios and white clouds, pretty fast moving fish. but after i witnessed the crayfish snatch a danio that swam quickly by him and proceed to eat him, i moved the crayfish to a tank by himself with just a few feeder platy and guppy fry.
also when crayfish molt, they are exposed to everything and the tiniest little thing can kill them. my crayfish died after he molted.